I have been collecting stuff since I was a kid in the 1950’s. In those days, collecting was a recognized hobby. It was good for you and could be valuable too. In today’s world, few people collect any more, certainly not young people. Ask any kid under 20 years of age if he has a stamp collection and the answer will be no! In the 1950s and 1960s, everyone collected stamps, young and old.

I have collected stamps (I still have my stamp collection for the 1950s), hockey cards, comics, books, guns, toys, antiques, pennants (What are pennants??), post cards and lot more weird stuff. Most of it is gone but not all. Most of it is NOT valuable, but some is.
Collecting seems to be in your blood. Some love to collect (yours truly); others think it’s silly.

If you have an interest in Sea Hunt and have enjoyed seeing the stuff in my Sea Hunt collection, maybe you’d also like to start a small collection. All collections start small by definition. Some stay small but some become very large and a few, like my Sea Hunt collection, become the largest of them all.

So, a word to the wise before we go on: if you would like to collect Sea Hunt memorabilia, you already have whatever it is that makes someone collect and if you have that in you, who knows how long you will collect or how much.

Let’s start with a look at my collection. Here’s a video of it on display at the Sea Hunt Remembered in Silver Springs, Florida:
Sea Hunt Collection by Alec Peirce

Step 1

Take a look around for Sea Hunt memorabilia and see if certain things are of greater interest than others. You might really like the Sea Hunt comic books or maybe the Sea Hunt scuba gear. If so, that’s where to start. Pick a category of memorabilia and begin.
Otherwise, just start looking for Sea Hunt stuff.

Step 2

Buy a couple of items. Don’t try to get the very best for starters. One of the fun parts of collecting is the improvement of your collection. If you’ve chosen comic books to start, get a couple of comic books. They are cheap and always fun to read.  Once you have a couple in your hand, you may find it exciting and want to get more. Or maybe you’ll discover it doesn’t do much for you. You haven’t spent much so you can decide that collecting Sea Hunt stuff is not what you want to do.

Step 3

Try to discover how many different comic books (in this example) exist. There were only 13 Sea Hunt comics issued in North America by DELL. But my collection of comic books has almost 50 different comics. Knowing how many are out there gives you a goal. Now you can work towards getting a full set.

Step 4

Work to improve the things in your collection. When you got your first comic book and read it, it was probably pretty neat. But now you realize that it is a pretty poor copy. As you look for and find new comics to add to your set, watch as well for better copies of the ones you already have. You can buy them, or maybe trade for them. Slowly, as your set becomes more complete, it will also become higher quality. Now your collection is getting larger AND better. Both aspects of collecting are fun- acquiring items and improving your items.
In my case, I see very few new Sea Hunt items so I am always searching for better items to replace the ones I collected earlier. That is equally exciting for me.

Step 5

Organize your collection. Start now! As soon as you have a couple of items, make a list, describe them in the list and store them. I didn’t do that and, not realizing how much Sea Hunt stuff was out there, I had a great big, disorganized pile of stuff before I realized it. After several half-hearted attempts, I finally have everything organized and catalogued.

Step 6

Share your collection with others. It’s very satisfying to talk to other collectors about what you’ve found. Most Sea Hunt fans are very friendly and helpful (not all) and they love to talk about, share ideas about and help each other find more Sea Hunt stuff.

Step 7

Whenever you find something, be sure to follow up on it. Research it as much as possible to see if there isn’t something else related to that item. Many of my Sea Hunt toys are illustrated in toy catalogs. Those catalogs, if you can find them, are also Sea Hunt memorabilia.

Where To Find Sea Hunt Stuff

Ok, you say, but you haven’t told where to find stuff for my Sea Hunt collection.
What’s the secret?
Ready? There is no secret!!

The only way to find more Sea Hunt items for your collection is to look everywhere all the time. I am constantly searching various on-line auctions sites. Every time I find something, I ask the seller if he has more Sea Hunt stuff or if he knows where to find some. I tell him that I will buy anything he finds (not exactly accurate but I will buy anything he finds that I want – same thing!).
I visit dive stores all over the world and, if the owner/manager is over 50 year of age, I ask him about Sea Hunt. We chat and eventually I ask him if he has any Sea Hunt stuff or if he knows another dive store owner who might. Most diver store owners talk to each other.
I check antique shops for Sea Hunt toys or books.
I reach out to any Sea Hunt fans on the internet and ask them to watch for stuff for me.
I have found a lot of items by making friends with vintage divers in other countries. Sea Hunt was popular in the UK, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, and probably other places that I have not reached.

I am always talking about Sea Hunt and about my collection. Whenever someone expresses an interest, I pick their brains for other possible Sea Hunt fans.

Basically, that’s the secret. Don’t keep your interest in Sea Hunt a secret.
People will often help you find stuff because the want to help.
The world is not yet so cynical that folks don’t feel good when they help someone, even with something as trivial as finding Sea Hunt stuff.

So, talk it up, ask everyone and when you find something, be sure to reach me. Maybe, just maybe, it’s something I don’t have and I will trade handsomely for it.

Good luck.

Alec